


Scary

by TheRedHero11037



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, referenced attempted suicide, sad family fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 23:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4806446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedHero11037/pseuds/TheRedHero11037
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miss Janssen is incredibly apprehensive about meeting John Sears's family. Well, less Rosemary Sears; they've met in passing before when she comes to pick John up. She's a sweet lady, always pleasant. It's Jack Sears she's worried about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scary

“My dad is scary,” John reads from a page in his little book. He’s been working on the printer paper booklet for a week. He’s so proud and it almost hurts Jack to know that that line is about him.

“Let me read all of it to you!” John cries. He’s so excited. Jack nods. John points a chubby little finger at his title page. “My Dad,” he reads. “That’s you, he adds, with a poke at the stick figure with pale hair and a sword.

“Very nice,” Jack assures him. John beams and turns the page.

“My dad is scary sometimes, but I love him because he is my dad.” Jack smiles at the picture of their stick figures holding hands. “My dad is cool but he is sick. He has robot arms and a res-per-ay-ter. That’s a machine to help him breathe.” There’s a big black circle on the side of the Jack stick figure’s head. Jack touches the real thing, working away on the side of his jaw. He praises John and tells him to keep reading.

“My dad fights bad guys for his job. He saved Mommy from a vampire!” John jabs at the paper.  
“That’s you with your sword. You’re saying ‘I’ll save you, Rose!’ because that’s Mommy’s real name.”

“That’s a nice dress you drew for her.”

“She’s a princess,” John explains, swelling with pride.

“Don’t I know it.” Jack tilts his head at the picture on the next page, a stick figure standing on a window ledge. “Who’s that?”

“That’s you!” Jack reels back a little. John traces the stick figure’s hair. “See? It says sometimes you do bad things and tell me not to tell Mommy, and that’s why you’re scary.”

“Oh. I see.” Jack bites his lip. “I think Daddy needs a break from reading.”

They stop reading, and John does not get to finish reading before his parents go off to the school for the parent-teacher conference.

 

Miss Janssen is incredibly apprehensive about meeting John Sears’s family. Well, less Rosemary Sears; they've met in passing before when she comes to pick John up. She's a sweet lady, always pleasant. It's Jack Sears she's worried about.

Jack Sears does not appear to be a very stable person. He has not shown up to a single school event yet. He's always "sick" according to Rosemary. 

Miss Janssen knows enough about Jack Sears from what John says. John loves his father, but him himself has said that his dad is "scary." Miss Janssen believes it, especially after John shared his hand-made book with her, the one with the picture of John's father sitting on a window ledge.

The timer bleeps. The break before the next parent-teacher conference is over. Miss Janssen steels herself to meet Rosemary Sears and her disastrous husband Jack.

 

Jack is a lot like how John draws him. His hair is just as pale as the silver marker implies, and the black box regulating his breathing does stick out from his jaw as far as John draws it. His grey eyes are small but observant, and his nose presses upward. Jack's smile is closer to a grimace because he has to work around his respirator, and his grip is warm despite being all mechanical. His voice is rough and dry. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Cody," she says, but doesn't really mean it. "I'm glad you could finally come. John says you're sick frequently."

Jack nods. His respirator clicks. "It can be hard to get out, yeah." Click, hiss goes the little black box again. "That's why I'm so glad I have Rose." Rosemary smiles and holds onto Jack's hand.  
The conference goes wonderfully. Jack says little in response to John's schoolwork. Rosemary is attentive. Miss Janssen almost hates to break it up with the real issue.

"John showed me something that I think would be important to discuss today." Miss Janssen takes out a couple sheets of paper. "Every week, we fill out a worksheet talking about what we did that weekend. John has some that I found rather... off." She lays out the sheets and reads them. "This weekend I saw Snake and Daddy fight. This weekend I called 911 by myself. This weekend I helped Daddy because he was crying."

Jack's biting his lip, fists clenched. His respirator clicks, clicks, clicks. Rosemary looks scared as she tries to soothe her husband.

"There another part of it that's awfully morbid. This page in this book he wrote." Miss Janssen takes out the copied page. Rosemary takes it and examines the drawing. A stick figure with silver hair and a black box on its cheek is standing on what seems to be the outside of an apartment building window. Rosemary sucks in a breath and reads John's caption for the drawing.

"Sometimes Daddy does bad things and tells me not to tell Mommy and that's really scary." She whips around to face her husband. "Jack, I-- When...?"

"I'm sorry," he rasps. "You know I'm not trying to be a bad influence. I couldn't hurt him. I'm not trying to--" Jack slumps with a sob. Miss Janssen suddenly feels bad, but the law requires that she bring this up.

"Thank you for telling me," Rosemary tries to keep her voice even. She's a professional, after all. Her attention turns back to Miss Janssen. "If this happens again, please just call or something."

"I just had to make sure John is safe."

"He is." Jack's voice is tinny now, and it takes Miss Janssen a moment to realize that it's a synthesizer. His respirator is working too hard for him to actually speak. "I could never hurt him. I-I don't want people to think he's not okay just because I'm crazy."

"Jack, you're not crazy. Don't say that." Rosemary tries to fake a smile. "Sorry about all this. I-is that all you wanted to talk about?"

Miss Janssen nods. "Yeah, that's all."

"We're gonna go, then," Rosemary declares. Her husband nods and gets to his feet and mutters a brief thanks and Miss Janssen never sees Jack Sears again.

 

Which is not to say that she does not hear of Jack Sears ever again.


End file.
